This
establishing shot of the real Orange County
was first seen on "The O.C." in Episode 27 of Season one: "The Ties
That Bind"

We are looking
west out on the islands of Newport Harbor.
The tiny island you see is Collins Island(it's located off the west end of the much larger Balboa Island).
The wavy land to the right is the south coast of Harbor Island.

Important:
These "establishing shots" of Orange County are not locations
where The O.C. is actually filmed.The O.C. is not really filmed in Orange County - it is filmed in
Los Angeles County. These "establishing shots"
are brief aerial snapshots of actual Orange County locations, which the
producers drop into the show to add color and
to help create the illusion that we are seeing the real Orange County.
I have included this list of their "establishing shots"
to supplement the main list of actual filming
locations. You can tell the difference by color: the actual filming
location
pages are gold, while the "establishing shot" pages are blue.

To see a list of the L.A.
locations where The O.C. is actually filmed,
click on the OC Filming Locations logo below.